The Musings From A Vampire Obsessed Mind

Monthly Archives: December 2012

Greetings and Salutations to those that have been reading my random musings. I apologize for the fact that they have been rather absent as of late but life outside of my little blog world has been insane and thus my writing time has been impacted. Not that I am complaining, just explaining for anyone that may be wondering, or not, so be it.

With that being said I awoke this morning with the urge to write about the names that people like to throw out that are supposed to be insulting but to me I wear them as a mark of pride. Often I have been asked it I know what a “Dork” is and why I chose that as the basis for my blog, page, and various other sites. Well the reason is simple. I know if you “Google” it the descriptions that are thrown up but to me it is the label that was thrown at me many times as an attempt to hurt me, or undermine what I think, obviously from people who have no idea who they are talking to. As if their little comments have any real impact on anything let alone going to change how I view things. The real decisive factor for me is that when I head over to the place I love about one of my many obsessions my husband will look at me with such love and just utter one word “Dork!”

There is no judging there. He has long accepted all my weird and wonderful obsessions and how passionate I am about them but at that point I know that he is no longer interested (or following) my most recent train of thought about a book or a show and I am talking to myself. This of course doesn’t mean that I stop, but I do stop getting any kind of intelligent responses to my ramblings. But I ask you this … in what other house would a teenager start a detailed discussion about the genetics of Fae breeding that not only did the whole family weigh in on but our extended Facebook world too? Add to that this wasn’t even considered unusual as discussions about the supernatural in general are so common place here that even my father (who is in his 70’s) often joins in and offers wonderfully dry insights.

Now many shows and movie franchises have “labels” for their fan bases (or rather the fans have labelled themselves and it has caught on) and I will openly admit I belong to many of those so carry many titles. Trubie. Whovian, Browncoat, Grimmster are four that immediately spring to mind. What does amuse me though are the wannabees that jump in and “claim” the title when their level of devotion flits from one to the next like a moth to a flame. Attaching themselves to whatever is trendy at the time and then moving on. Whilst I find this strange I don’t feel the need to harass them about it as I see so many other so called “devoted” fans do. That newbie that knows nothing today and asks questions could be tomorrow’s most emphatic fan thus if an interest seems genuine I will endeavour to answer questions if I can but I can’t help but notice more often than not it is just a passing fad.

I think perhaps the saddest thing is that these passing fanbases can really change the direction of the show and not always in a good way. The shows lose the rawness and the cult factor that true fans fell for in the first place. Other shows have managed to keep that cult feeling mainly because they were cancelled. When Joss Whedon’s Firefly survived only one season fans were devastated (myself included). Their uprising enabled a movie to be made (something previously unheard of .. a movie from a cancelled tv show? seriously?) and the movie was amazing but we never got our show back. Ten years later we still mourn what could have been. Browncoats unite!!

With Social Media allowing shows such huge interaction with fans these days the voices from the crowd are getting louder and louder and sometimes, I feel, drowning out the original creative influences that gave us the shows to begin with. In some cases it is great when our favorite guest stars become regular characters but so often it seems that they end up changing the story to accommodate what was obviously not meant to be and the focus becomes blurred.

So what do you think? Should fans get to have such an influence or should the writers isolate themselves from what is going on in the fan community. Of course the money makers are so convinced that “pleasing” everyone is the way to go that more often than not no one ends up happy. Even the shows that “claim” they ignore what the fans are screaming about (yes Mr. Ball I am talking about you) in my opinion have totally sold out but this is not news. I have complained about it on many a True Blood rant, but then still can’t stop watching. My obsessions crave their fixes, I am lost to the realm of fantasy that I choose to immerse myself in …….

So pick your label ….. Dork, Geek, Freak, Nerd, Trubie, Whovian, Grimmster, Browncoat, and more. I am and always will be each and every one of them and you know what? I am just fine with that!